Cooling Solutions on Music Festival Sites in Extreme Heat.

Numerous music festivals in Europe and North America take place during the summer months where brief heatwaves can be experienced. Events taking place in Southeast Asia or the Middle East can be subject to extreme heat year-round. How can organisers design their sites to keep festival-goers cool and safe using technology during periods of excessive heat.

An outdoor summer music festival can experience a variety of adverse weather conditions but one of the biggest threats to festival-goers and equipment is excessive heat. Festival site design is increasingly taking into account the need for cooling and hydration to prevent heat related illnesses and damage to sensitive equipment. In addition to site design organisers will move headline acts to cooler evening times and volunteer daytime shifts are shortened to reduce exposure during the hottest part of the day. What should organisers consider when planning for protection from excessive heat during their events.

Heat Risks and Festival-Goer Protocols.
Common dangerous conditions for festival-goers, volunteers and staff during excessive high temperatures include heat exhaustion and heat stroke. This can be caused by dehydration and an electrolyte imbalance. These conditions can be exasperated by high crowd densities and fatigue from inadequate rest causing staff and volunteer performance to decline. Operational risks are also heightened with dry high temperatures causing damage to sensitive electronic equipment and an increase in fire risks sitewide. Organisers must ensure that their site is built with an adequate hydration infrastructure with freely available water stations near high density crowd locations. A ready supply of electrolyte supplements or sports drinks should be available from vendors and medical facilities. Having sufficient supplies during a multi-day festival should form part of the planning process where running out of drinking water is not an option.

Site Build Considerations for Extreme Heat.
If organisers are anticipating excessive heat during their event, they should consider using cooler surface materials for temporary structures and pathways. The preference should be for grass, woodchip and sand rather than dark rubber matting and metal which can accumulate heat and high temperatures. Consideration should be given to the provision of shaded areas throughout a festival site and organisers often use large tensile shade sails or other reflective roofing materials. Shade is especially important where queues form and if available shading systems can be integrated with any available trees for example. Implementing zones and areas that are purposely cooled by different technologies can usually be found in backstage zones, VIP rooms, green rooms, food courts and medical facilities where a combination of evaporative misting systems and fans are used.

Cooling Technology.
The use of cooling systems should take into account the sustainability impact and organisers need to balance the provision of a safe and comfortable environment with using eco-friendly solutions. Marquees and tents usually have an in-built ventilation system that can work well with fans and airflow systems. If the climate is hot and dry an evaporative cooling system can be very effective. These systems deliver a fine mist combined with a fan and can be installed as misting arches, cooling tunnels and water curtain doors at marquee entrances, for example. Other experimental technologies are the use of ice combined with fans, but these need constant ice refills, and the effect can be variable only reaching short distances. Where possible organisers are also moving towards the use of solar assisted cooling and battery powered fans that work together with a thought-out reflective architecture on temporary structures.

Air Conditioning.
Although traditional mobile air conditioning units can be used, they do consume large amounts of electricity, however, there are some scenarios where an air-conditioned room or area is essential. Central control rooms with communications equipment and server rooms containing sensitive electronic equipment may require temperature and humidity regulation to meet expected performance levels. In addition, medial emergency facilities can also be air conditioned because this helps heat illness recovery and other vulnerable festival-goers. It is not unusual for these rooms and facilities to be using mobile air-conditioning units connected to a dedicated power generation source to increase reliability. The adverse impact on an event’s carbon footprint of using air-conditioning can often be offset against sustainability and eco-friendly initiatives used elsewhere on a festival site.

For festival organisers planning their next event using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors, guestlists, ticketing, site planning, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

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